The Seniors Health Network each month poses a question to health- care professionals. This month, Jane Osborne – regional mentor with the BC Association of Community Response Networks – was asked:
“I’m a 76-year-old woman who has been in a same-sex relationship almost all of my adult life. My partner is 79 and has some health challenges and we are very worried about our future. We’ve had some negative experiences with the ‘health care system’ related to judgment and we worry about what it will be like in residential care. Can we live together? Will we be judged? Will our relationship be accepted as ‘normal’?”
The world is a different place than it was 50 years ago. In the 1960s you could be imprisoned for being a homosexual.
It wasn’t until 1969 that Pierre Trudeau’s sweeping changes to the Canadian Criminal Code passed into law. (“I think that what’s done in private between adults doesn’t concern the Criminal Code,” he said.)
In the 1970s, publishers and booksellers could be criminally charged for distributing anything related to homosexual sex. Although there were small, positive steps made throughout the ’80s, it wouldn’t be until 1996 that sexual orientation was added to the Canadian Human Rights Act. And, it was just June 16, 2017, that transgender rights were finally enshrined in the Act.
Why does this matter?
“I will kill myself before I go into the residential care facility in my community,” said one LGBTQ senior care aide from a small community during a recent working group meeting of the BC Association of Community Response Networks (BC CRN) Seniors Aging OUT project. Our care facilities, particularly those outside the metro Vancouver area, are not ready.
They are not safe for individuals who were adults before 1995, who were fired from employment, beaten, thrown in jail, forced into psychiatric hospitals, abandoned by their families and who suffered untold atrocities at the hands of authorities and institutions. It matters because for many people, aging comes with vulnerability and vulnerability can lead to abuse. It matters because trans and non-binary seniors in care have been mis-gendered, forced into clothing based on anatomy and continue to be marginalized in the straight world and in the LGBTQ+ community.
It matters because past and more current atrocities have traumatized many and many can’t trust that what happened before won’t happen again. We don’t feel safe going into care.
The rainbow lining.
Yes – there is a silver (and rainbow) lining to this story.
We have individuals and organized groups advocating for and providing community programs and formal training to support the rights of older LGBTQ+ adults. Qmunity is an inclusive organization providing resources, support and programs for the LGBTQ+ community throughout B.C. regardless of age. BC CRNs and their Seniors Aging OUT project team are actively working with community-facing organizations to build awareness around elder abuse, neglect and self-neglect.
The Living Out Visibly and Engaged Community Response Network (LOVE CRN) is developing tools, resources and initiatives to build a community response to elder abuse within the LGBTQ+ community.
There are resources and support services that can make a difference by ensuring that human rights are respected and that senior services providers are trained to provide safe and respectful care.
For those of us who have lost family and friends because of who we are and feel frightened by the prospect of going into care, we are not alone. We have human rights and there is support:
• Qmunity – https://qmunity.ca or call 604-684-5307, ext. 100.
• BC Association of Community Response Networks – www.bccrns.ca
• LOVE CRN – www.lovecrn.ca
• Seniors Abuse and Information Line – http://seniorsfirstbc.ca/programs/sail or call 604-437-1940 or toll free at 1-866-437-1940.
The South Surrey White Rock Seniors Health Network is a coalition of seniors service providers working under the auspices of the Mayor of White Rock’s office. For information on resources, visit sswr.fetchbc.ca. If you have a question for publication, please email seniorshealthnetworksswr@gmail.com